Nigerian oil workers 'won't go on strike'

Pana 14/03/2012

Lagos, Nigeria - The plan by Nigerian oil workers to go on strike Wednesday, over the debt owed to banks by some of their members, may have been shelved, if the assurance given by the spokesman of the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, is anything to go by.

In a statement, the spokesman said the umbrella National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) had put its planned strike on hold, following the intervention of government and all other stakeholders in the industry.

He therefore urged Nigerians to stop panic buying of petroleum products.

“I want to assure everybody that there is no need to scramble for petroleum products as we have enough to go round. The government has opened a communication channel with NUPENG and they have since put the pending strike action in the cooler to allow for more positive engagement with government,’’ he said.

NUPENG had threatened to embark on an indefinite, nation-wide strike starting Wednesday (14 March) in solidarity with the Jetty and Petroleum Tank Farm Owners of Nigeria (JEPTFON), a sub-union of the umbrella organization, over a lingering debt issue with some financial institutions.

A strike by NUPENG, whose members include fuel tanker drivers, would have paralyzed the lifting of the products to filling stations and sparked a shortage.

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